On October 8th, the Jumpsuit Team and the Permaculture Action Tour arrived to the Seven Seeds Biodynamic Farm under a blood red lunar eclipse. An immediate sense of magic and comfort filled the hearts of the team as they gleaned their first look at the property.
“As I walked up to the farm my first time, my entire body was an immediate YES.” – Mr. Lif
Mr. Lif admitted being quite the city-slicker, but that through this tour, he is able to connect more with the earth visiting places like this farm.
The day started with an educational tour of the land with it’s primary steward, Don Tipping. He was so good at stacking functions that we didn’t even realize he was schooling us on multiple permaculture principles as he exposed us to a variety of elements on his land – including an aquaculture pond, animal pasture, rows of seed crops, and multiple canopies of food and medicine producing plants.
Great permaculture design can’t be seen, and the intention is to, “design systems that are self-managing,” Don mentioned as we walked by a normal looking patch that was full of medicinal herbs.
Permaculture design is implemented relative to the immediate needs of the living organisms within the systems. These relative spheres can be grouped into zones. Zone zero begins with our own self-practice, the part that is to be visited daily, and the latter zones require less frequency of attention. Don spoke of Zone one as our values and our morals, and how important it is to stay in alignment. A simple way he achieves this is by peeing outside each morning to return nitrogen to the soil and paying attention to the earth as he walks around his land.
The three ethics of permaculture from Toby Hemenway are:
- people care
- earth care
- share the surplus
We walked by his barn that holds crops waiting to be harvested for seed, but doubles as a stage for a band during parties. He even pointed out that his cob oven was close to the house because he uses it often for cooking and the figs that live next to it enjoy the heat. Around the fig trees were rosehips chock full of vitamin c that grew around a trellis to create a canopy of shade. On the ground, Don pointed to some of the commonly known weeds which were actually comfrey, plantago major, and red clover which can be used for bee stings, are antibacterial, and acts as a preventative for prostate cancer, respectively.
Don pointed out that everything evolves and he respects evolutionary agriculture. What was once a veggie garden is now full of comfrey, red currant, raspberries and nettle, with fruit trees and French prunes, and the whole thing is self-regulating. The dogs on the property serve as the rodent control, and within 30 seconds, as if on cue, we watched his dog frantically digging for a small rodent in the ground.
“What a non-boring time to be alive,” exclaimed Don!
We live in a world in which crisis is an increasingly widespread reality. Permaculture enthusiasts are optimists as they see this situation as a huge opportunity for change.
Tipping’s answer to climate change: Save the seeds! We need to mentor each other, move out of the way, and let the brilliance shine through! Throughout all his spiritual, esoteric understanding of life he noted how useful the internet is to share functional solutions and stay connected, like a network of mycellium. The biggest gift we have as humans is our presence and our silence.
Don Tipping and his crew were thrilled about the Permaculture Action Tour. “It brings more meaning to the dance floor and to the music.” Just before The Polish Ambassador left the farm, he said that “we need more artists to talk about WHY they do what they do. There is a message behind all of it, and it’s time to share it.” The crew at Seven Seeds farm is in love with life. They promote life. They see that nature’s cycles naturally reproduce. Bill McDermon did a talk on fava beans, comparing the memory of a fava bean to a memory stick. Which holds more memory? The fava bean can reproduce infinitely. On the question of whether humanity has the potential to become enlightened, the answer lies in nutrition. “You can’t build the bridge between will and action without nutrition.”
After the tour team left, the work day continued! The farm bumped some speakers for a cob making dance party, then had an ecstatic dance party in the Yurt with Samantha. “All of it is to grow people.”
LESSONS FROM DON –
Don`s water system on his land was completely self-regulating – a simple design, that captures the water in ponds and channels it slowly downslope throughout his property in a zig-zag formation. The detailed version of this is found here: Permaculture Keyline Water Systems: Don Tipping @…: http://youtu.be/_X-BMbLBozA
Don was super hopeful as he talked about returning carbon to the atmosphere through the practice of allowing animals to graze. Alan Savory has a Ted Talk that tells a story of just how useful it is to have an animal’s presence in a farming system. http://www.ted.com/speakers/
